The Visitor (artist Tony Coleman) – Strange Stories from the Mist text story

Bessie Bunter

Plain as Pearl (artist Juliana Buch)

Cut-Glass Crystal (artist Tony Coleman)

Running Rosie Lee (artist José Casanovas)

The Loneliest Girl in the World (artist Jaume Rumeu)

In the previous entry we profiled the Tammy that abolishes the Cover Girls and the logo that Tammy had used since her first issue. So now we take a step back and take a look at the issue that was the last to use them. So what did the Cover Girls do for their swansong? As you can see, they had a very hair-raising experience!

Of course the issue has a preview of the new-look Tammy that will be launched the following issue. It starts off with the “great news” blurb, and it is definitely much better news than saying the comic will be merging with another next issue.

After an absence of several years, Jed and Gert finally return to the pages of Bella. They have fallen on such evil days after Jed gets injured that they’re squatting, in debt, and unable to resume their window cleaning business. Bella feels so sorry for them despite the cruelties they inflicted on her in the past that she helps to revive their business. Will this be the beginning of Bella having improved relations with them though, or will they go back to the Jed and Gert of old? And there is still the matter of how Bella is going to get back into gymnastics.

This is the last issue to have the Misty text stories, which were revived during the merger. It’s a cautionary tale about not messing with blood pacts, especially when they’re sworn on the Bible.

Bessie Bunter makes one of the intermittent appearances she has been making ever since Misty joined Tammy. Bessie is so determined to go on a camping trip because it’s at an apple orchard that she lies about the weather forecast (stormy) and the state of Miss Stackpole’s tent (ripped). Of course Miss Stackpole discovers the truth on the trip, not to mention all the apples Bessie stashed in her tent. Then she and Bessie meet a lion after straying into a safari park and end up in a tree. Meanwhile, Wee Sue gets chased on the beach twice after a couple of mishaps, but it works out well in the end.

“The Loneliest Girl in the World” reaches its penultimate episode. Thank goodness it is for Karen, because she’s just about at the end of her rope with all these crazy goings-on that now go completely bonkers all around her. She’s discovering that everything and everyone around her is just one great big fake – even the forest and its wildlife. Finally, Karen emerges somewhere that at least looks genuine, but it looks like nothing on Earth – oh golly, could that be it?

At the school’s 200th anniversary celebrations, the school snobs, who have always had it in for “Running Rosie Lee”, recreate the Boston Tea Party by throwing Mr Lee’s tea into the school swimming pool to spite Rosie. But Rosie’s revenge is really surprising. Instead of the American Revolution she’s launching the French Revolution against the snobs. Is she going to send the snobs to the guillotine or something?

In “Dulcie Wears the Dunce’s Hat” (because of the dirty tricks Annie Archer keeps playing on her in class, not because she really is useless at schoolwork), Dulcie is swotting hard for exams so she can get rid of the hat. Little does Dulcie know her hard swotting is a waste of time, because Annie is framing her for ruining the exam papers. For some reason this episode got switched with the one in the next issue, so we don’t see what happens when the school discovers the ruined exam papers for two weeks.

This week’s episode of “Plain as Pearl” shows more and more of what vanity, spoiling and pretty looks have done to make Claire a mean, selfish type and why Pearl is so right to keep her modelling job a secret from her. But at the end of the episode Claire could discover it when she drops in to Pearl’s friend Kathy’s house while Pearl is trying on her modelling clothes.

In “Cut-Glass Crystal”, Crystal’s mother and grandmother arrive to take her away from Pitedge. Dad is furious about it. That’s pretty rich of him, considering how hard he has been on Crystal. Crystal has considerable reason to leave Pitedge because she has been such a misfit there, but now there are loyalties to consider. So what will happen?